Contact
by Little Miss Lovejoy
Summary: Heinz has been having nightmares that were induced by his traumatic childhood memories.


Tossing and turning, whimpering a little in his sleep, Heinz Doofenshmirtz was having a nightmare. _Again._ It had been happening so much lately, and the dark circles under his eyes were only becoming more prominent with each night's sleep he lost. The dreams weren't always the same, but they always had the same origin. Every nightmarish scene that appeared behind his eyelids in the night all derived from his childhood days.

And his childhood days were _anything_ but good. He had had emotionally abusive parents who constantly made it very clear they were not the least bit proud of him. His struggle all through his younger years was trying to simply _fit in_ his own family, only to get pushed out of the family dynamic completely. They made him feel so worthless, like he would _never_ be good enough.

His father would never be anything more than _ashamed_ of him, his mother would never love him…but _Roger_—Roger always had gotten everything. He was always _one_ step ahead of Heinz. Even now, he was the _mayor_ of Danville. He…was _ruling_ something! _Heinz_ wanted to rule the Tri State Area, and here his brother was the mayor of the city. It wasn't fair! Roger got this, Roger got that, everybody loves Roger, why not give Roger the key to the city, too?

It seems nothing could ever go right for him, ever. He felt like the biggest failure in the world, and it all started with his childhood. No—it started the day he was _born_.

It was no _wonder_ the man was having nightmares.

* * *

"I don't have all _day_, Heinz," his father was saying impatiently, looking at a pocket watch. "You wanted to show me something, yeah? Something 'astounding', as you call it? Well, show me. Make me proud, Heinz."

"Y-yes! It, it's right over here, Papa! Come see! Come see!" Heinz hurried over to his latest –inator to show his father. This was it; the moment of truth. He could finally show his father what he was capable of, that he was worth something. He grinned a little evilly as he pressed the button, only to be confused when nothing happened. "What…What's going on?!"

His father pursed his lips. "Clearly, you don't know what you're doing, Heinz."

"No…no, I swear…this worked earlier! It, it was very impressive!" He kept hitting the button in frustration before getting a good look at his –inator, seeing it had been tampered with. Wires were cut, parts were unscrewed! "Perry the Platypus?!"

"What about a platypus? Have you gone nutty? There is no one here."

"No…this, this secret agent platypus always comes and ruins my plans. He, he _had_ to be behind this, I just know it!" He got on his hands and knees, crawling around the –inator looking for the platypus. "Come out, come out, wherever you are! Perry the _Platypus_! Ugh!"

"Dummkopf," his father muttered, starting to walk away.

"Papa, no! Wait! I…I could show you something else! I…Please come back! Papa!"

"It is okay, Heinz. I did not expect much from you. Goodbye."

* * *

Heinz shot up in bed, in a panicked sweat, pulling his knees to his chest with a frown. Why? _Why_ did this keep happening? As if it wasn't bad enough to live through his childhood _once_, he had to keep reliving it in twisted ways in his dreams.

He knew by now that it was hopeless to try to fix things with his father or mother. It was beyond his help. He'd tried on multiple occasions, and it only led to disaster and more hurt for him.

But…

He couldn't help still longing for their love, their approval…

He longed for _any_ kind of love. He felt so lonely…

His eyes welled up with tears, trying his best to hold in the sobs trying to escape his throat. He needed contact. He wanted—no, _needed _ to talk to someone…

But _who_? It was…

He squinted at the clock.

2:00 A.M.

He groaned and sleepily grabbed his phone, scrolling through his contacts. He…didn't really _have_ many contacts in his phone. A few associates, but nobody he could really just call in the _middle of the night_. No friends.

"Well, I'm certainly not calling _Charlene_. How weird would that be? She'd think I was crazy calling in the middle of the night!" He sighed. "_Anyone_ would think I was crazy…" He leaned back, letting his head hit the headboard of his bed. "Ooh, wait, I could…I could call Vanessa! _She_ likes me! Surely she wouldn't mind me calling her…She, she would understand, right…? Oh, _wait_, it's a school night. That wouldn't be very considerate of me." He threw his phone to the side, burying his face in his knees as he hugged them.

He was trying his best to hold his tears back, but he supposed he was being louder than he realized because there was soon a knock at the door. His robot, Norm, then appeared. "What do you want, Norm? It, it's the middle of the night!"

"Are you okay, sir?" He walked over to the man's bedside.

"Of _course_ I'm okay! Go, go away, Norm!"

"Did you have a nightmare? You seem upset. Would you like me to read you a story?"

Heinz scowled, waving his hands around. "No, you hunk of metal! Leave me alone!"

"You're the only father I have, sir, and I don't like seeing you sad."

"I'm not your father!" Heinz clenched his fists before breaking down again. "Papa…" he sobbed.

Norm sat down at the foot of the man's bed. "Why don't you talk to me about it, sir? I will listen."

"F-fine…" he sniffed, looking to the robot, his scowl slowly forming into the tiniest smile.

Perhaps he did have _one_ friend. He wasn't found in the contacts of his phone, but he was always there.


End file.
